Jesus’ Temptation in the Wilderness
Biblical text: Matthew 4:1-11
Fr. Lorenzo’s commentary: After his baptism but before beginning his public ministry, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert to relive Israel’s experience of wandering in the wilderness for forty years. Jesus fasts and prays for forty days, a day for each year. Why does Jesus undergo this retreat before he begins his ministry? Two principal reasons are solidarity and recapitulation. By reliving the experience of his people in miniature, Jesus is demonstrating his love for and solidarity with the Jewish people. They are God’s people, and Jesus is part of this people. The second reason is recapitulation, a term used in the patristic tradition to mean “succeeding where others failed.” This is especially evident in Jesus’ response to Satan’s three great temptations. Where Israel complained that God would not provide food for them, Jesus refuses to take matters into his own hands and turns the stones into bread. Where Israel tested God at the waters of Meribah, Jesus refuses to put God to the test by acting recklessly. Where Israel was sometimes seduced into worshipping other gods or prioritizing earthly power over God’s purposes, Jesus refuses to be seduced by earthly kingship and glory. Jesus is succeeding where Israel failed, and so providing his people with a perfect life to which they can attach themselves and therefore be justified in the eyes of God. This principle holds true for the Church as well. It is not merely that Israel has failed, but that we have failed in our own ways. For both Jew and Gentile, right standing before God is not a status to be earned through earnest performance, but a gift to be received through faith in the Messiah.
Commentary from The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston in The Four Vision Quests of Jesus (perspective: Native American theology):
The purpose of the vision quest in Native tradition is to reveal how a person is to live in a spiritual way to help his or her people. The quest can show us what our holy assignment is to be, what gifts we have to share, or what work we can accomplish in bringing good medicine home with us. Among all these possibilities, only one is missing: we never receive a vision that show us how to be above others.
As the Native Messiah, Jesus was ready for this experience. He had prepared himself as custom had dictated. He had been cleansed, purified, by the waters of the Jordan River when his brother John baptized him. As the Native Messiah, Jesus is a person with a deep sense of relatedness to a whole village of human beings who are direct members of his personal family. He carries a clan marker in his heart, an understanding of the intimate bond he shares with hundreds of other men, women, and children.
As a brother and parent, as a member of his clan, Jesus goes out on his first vision quest representing the whole of his People. He knows that they are a nation because of their covenant with God… Jesus, as a “Son of the People,” walks behind the Spirit into the Wilderness, not as a single mystic going out for a private audience with God, but as a representative of the whole nation going out to speak to their parent God. It is crucial to remember these many layers of relationship in the Native tradition embodied by Jesus in order to fully appreciate the impact of what God shows him. As in the classic Native American vision quest, Jesus endures his quest while fasting. In this way, he cuts himself off from even the elemental connections he has to sustain himself in order to concentrate on what he must do to sustain others.
Discussion Questions:
- In what ways have the past few months been like a “wilderness” for you? What “vision” or insight might God be giving you in this time?
- What is your “holy assignment”? What gifts do you have to share with your people, or what works might God be calling you to undertake in the service of the Body of Christ?
- As Christians, we are connected, not by our blood ties, but by our baptism. What can you do to be more connected to the local Christian community?
- What are some ways this week that you can “sustain others,” in addition to taking care of your own needs?
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